Chinese Diplomat accosted by Houston TX police

rhino123 said:

The police is no doubt at the wrong on the mishandling of the suspect. However the diplomat is also at the wrong in the first place for breaking the law in the first place with the lack of a license plate or something and to add fuel to fire, he ignored lawful request for him to stop his vehicle, instead driving it into the consulate. This is something like, driving into a safehouse and thinking it was all over.

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What gives?

That's the blunt question we must ask after reviewing two recent incidents involving apparent out-of-bounds conduct by Houston Police officers.

What gives in the case of Chad Holley? He's the Elsik High School sophomore who was beaten by HPD officers at a self-storage business in southwest Houston on the afternoon of March 24. He was 15 at the time.

You don't have to take our word for it — or Chad's, either. It was all captured on videotape by a surveillance camera at Uncle Bob's Self-Storage on Cook Road near Beechnut.

How bad was it? We haven't seen the tape, but Houston Mayor Annise Parker has. Her response: “I was extremely upset, angry and frankly disturbed by what I saw.”

What gives? This incident took place more than a month ago. An unidentified private citizen reportedly brought it to HPD's attention and that of the office of Harris County District Attorney Pat Lykos within a few days, but it only came to public light last week. And that was only because community activist Quanell X received a copy and raised hell about the treatment of the African-American teen.

What gives? Why the delay? Where was HPD's review process? The department's internal affairs division is only now getting around to interviewing Chad Holley and his mother. And what's the DA's office been doing about it?

To her credit, the mayor hasn't let any grass grow since she found out about this case. But by that time, the FBI had decided to become involved. That's a troubling sign that HPD isn't tending to its business.

And what gives in the case of Yu Boren, the Chinese diplomat who was allegedly injured during an arrest by three HPD officers at the country's consular offices on Montrose?

This incident has drawn unwelcome attention at the highest diplomatic levels.

What happened? Why was Yu injured and how extensive was the injury? Was the diplomat on property owned by the Chinese government and thus outside HPD jurisdiction?

This city prides itself on the number of consular offices here. Interaction with foreign diplomats should be routine for HPD officers.

What gives?

This city is not all that far removed from some very bad old days when bigotry and brutality characterized the HPD culture.

For many Houstonians memories are still fresh: Joe Campos Torres. Randy Webster. Ida Lee Delaney. Eli Escobar. The names alone evoke nightmares of ugly, brutish misconduct by out-of-control HPD officers.

We had assumed that culture had mostly changed. But these two apparently rogue incidents that have gone down recently call that into question.

What gives?

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vesicles said:

I can't tell his nationality, but he's very annoying...

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China urges US to probe arrest of diplomat
Associated Press / May 1, 2010

DALLAS — Three Houston police officers have been restricted to desk duty after they followed a Chinese diplomat into the parking garage of the Chinese Consulate, arrested the man, and injured him, the Houston mayor said.

Mayor Annise Parker said in a statement that the officers’ duties will remain limited, pending an investigation into how Chinese diplomat Yu Boren was injured last Saturday.

Officials in China’s Foreign Ministry released a statement yesterday saying that police harassed and beat a deputy consul-general while he was driving to the consulate. The statement said a family member also was involved, but did not say if that person was injured.

The consulate in Houston did not immediately return a message left for comment. Houston police and the US State Department are investigating the incident.

“China urges the US . . . to quickly investigate the details of this incident and to look into the persons responsible to ensure that the Chinese diplomatic and consulate personnel and premises are not violated,’’ Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said in a statement.

“The Chinese Foreign Ministry, the Chinese Embassy and the Houston consulate have already made solemn exchanges with the US side.’’

Under international practice, the premises of foreign embassies and consulates are outside the jurisdiction of local law enforcement, and diplomats have legal immunity.

Houston police tried to stop a car that was missing a license plate, CBS News reported. When the car didn’t stop, they pursued it into a garage. Police handcuffed and arrested the driver, injuring him, the report said.

The US State Department was taking the matter very seriously and the findings of the investigation will be shared with China “as soon as appropriate,’’ said Susan Stevenson, spokeswoman for the US Embassy in Beijing.

A Houston police spokesman declined to comment.

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solarz said:

LOL!

Here in Toronto, the Chinese consulate only has one guard, and he's not chinese either. However, he is pretty helpful.

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vesicles said:

I think both parties should bare some blame in this incident. First of all, you MUST pull over and stop the vehicle if the police demands you to do so. Failing to do that WILL cause almost automatic arrest. In the mind of these cops, you got something to hide if you don't want to stop. Then they get into their aggressive mode. I don't think anyone knew it was a 50-year old driving the car since it was at night and the police was only following him.

Then, the police should NOT enter the ground of the Chinese consulate no matter what the circumstance is. afterall, this is Chinese property and out of jurisdition of HPD or any US official. with that said, I have to say that the Chinese consulate in Houston is not the easiest thing to recognize. I live in houston and have been to that very consulate on several occasions to obtain visas to China for friends and familiy members who live elsewhere in the states (you CAN mail your document to the consulate for visa application, but I guess they all feel that it would be safer if someone can physically bring the stuff to the office). The building is not as clearly marked as you might think. It doesn't have the fancy courtyard and gates and things that the old US embassy in Beijing has. It looks like any other building around it. Both my parents and I have passed the building without knowing it multiple times. You would have to get close to find out that it's the Chinese consulate. If as the story went, the guy enter the buildng via garage, that means he used the side door, which is even less clearly marked with only a small plaque mounted on the outside of the side door.

One more weird thing. When I look at consulates and embassies elsewhere, I always see security personnel from the guest country on the property. In the US embassy in Beijing, I saw many Marines guarding the place. But for those many times that I've been to the Chinese consulate in Houston, I have never seen any Chinese uniformed personnel on the property. They got only ONE security officer at the front door and he's not even Chinese. I can't tell his nationality, but he's very annoying... The fact that a few HPD officer entered the building with no objection is somewhat troubling and puzzling to me. Don't they have their own personnel to protect the place???

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T-U-P said:

Consulates are not well marked at all (both in Vancouver and in Toronto), in fact, I don't think the Vancouver consulate even had a Chinese flag...

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PS: you can usually tell that you are at the right place if there are falun gong banners outside :roll:

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siegecrossbow said:

I really wouldn't say that this is a case of corruption. This is more alone the line of unprofessional-ism, kinda like how the cops kept on tasering the poor kid in the "don't tase me dude" incident. Perhaps the cops enlisted recently and hasn't completely learned the ethics guideline yet. Who knows.

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